Composition - Daily Class Work and Assignments

Online Writing Lab (MLA and APA format)
Essay Checklist

May 1 - Happy May Day!
  • The official due date of your proposal papers was yesterday. Each day you are late you lose 10%.
  • Presentation of your essay topics will begin tomorrow! They are worth 80 points and considered a test grade!
  • Reminder - there are many required components for Comp II as outlines by WIT. This means that assignments such as notecards, annotated bibliography, etc. are MANDATORY. If you do not complete these assignments you will not be given a passing grade for the semester.


April 23 - Shakespeare's Birthday!
  • Review of integrating sources in your essay.
  • Watch YouTube Video - Integrating Sources in MLA
  • REMEMBER is you do NOT include a citation or paraphrase from the source, the source should NOT be on you Works Cited page!
  • A printed draft of your essay is required for class on FRIDAY, APRIL 27 for peer editing!

April 20

April 19 - see the list from Monday
April 18 - see the list from Monday
April 17 - see the list from yesterday
April 16

April 13 - Work on your Annotated Bibliography

April 12 - Grammar Worksheet on Quotation Marks and Italics

April 11 - work on you research and note-taking

April 10
  • Research Trip to Morningside return to East High for 7th Hour
  • Progress Reports are Due Wednesday night at 11:59 pm VIA E-MAIL
  • Annotated Bibs are Due Monday, April 16th at 11:59 pm in the DROPBOX!

April 9
  • Discuss Field Trip (permission slips, transportation, food, what to bring)
  • How to do Notecards: You may choose between traditional(Bring your own Notecards!) or modified word document note taking.
  • Review Progress Reports and Annotated Bibliographies
  • ESSAY DUE IN 19 DAYS!!!


March 30
  • WORK!!! Only 28 days until your essay is DUE!

March 29
  • Resources Available - Use ICCOC online library, and school databases (see March 22 for login and password of Iowaaeaonline.com), Google Scholar. If you can, go to the WIT library next week and look for materials there! Take your student ID with you!)
  • Progress Report - DUE APRIL 10 (Email to your teacher)
  • Annotated Bibliography - DUE APRIL 16 (Place in the Dropbox)
    • Requirements You should have at least Fifteen (15-20) separate sources listed in the proper format. Abide by all of the format guidelines. The sources should be varied - not all Internet sources, for example - and be appropriate for a college level research paper. People magazine, Readers Digest, and others of that ilk are not satisfactory. Show me that you know how to find and can analyze data from credible sources (books, scholarly journals, professional sources). Your final reference page in the Research Proposal Paper should have a minimum of 10sources, each of which must be used as a source and cited in your paper. Do not put any sources in your references that you have not used in your paper. It is possible for some of your sources to change as you become more deeply involved in writing your paper. Advise me of changes in references.
    • Resources

March 28
  • Comma Quiz
  • Take Prestest that was posted yesterday
  • Set a Google Alert for your topic (Google - More - even more - specialized search/alerts)
  • Late/Missing Work
  • Working ahead? Start formatting your Works Cited entries to prep for your Annotated Bibliography

March 27
  • Pretest: Researching and Citing with Credible Sources
  • Review of Commas: QUIZ TOMORROW
  • Formal Topic Proposal Conferences
  • ALL topics and related assignments are due by the end of the day FRIDAY. No credit will be given after Friday for these assignments!

March 26

March 22
  • AA?
  • 2 Concept webs
  • Topic Analysis
  • Basic Research How to Save and Share your ONLINE Research Diigo.com
    • Google Advanced Search set Alert for your topic
    • Yippee to search for specific types of sites
    • Use ICCOC for access to WIT database
    • Use www.iowaaeaonline.org
      • user 6039sxehs
      • pw nwaea
  • Formal Topic Proposal Due Monday

March 21
  • Do your article analysis.
  • Finish up work on your concepts webs. Then choose one of your webs to complete the topic analysis sheet.
  • Begin some research to narrow down main topics for your thesis.
  • Complete the Topic Proposal Template for Monday, March 26. After this is submitted, your topic can NOT be changed!

March 20
  • Create a concept map for two of the topics you brought to class. Each map must have 4 subtopics and one miniweb is definition and synonyms of your topic. Thirty or more bubbles total.
  • Chose which topic you are leaning toward after completing your concept maps. Then complete the Topic Analysis Sheet.
  • Begin work on your AA, Due Friday night.
March 19 - Introduction to Proposal Essay

March 15 - MLA/APA Worksheet
March 13 - Comma Activity
March 12- No article analysis! Finish up work on your grammar project. Be sure to reread the directions below! Clarification: A group of two needs twenty errors, working solo - find ten errors, groups of three will need thirty errors!

March 5 - CSI: Grammar Project
  • Using the newspapers, advertisements and magazines brought to class, work with a partner to find grammar errors in publication. Several examples can be found below in the Headlines link and Anguished English book pages.
  • Work with a partner (at least one of you should have a camera phone to document your finds). Create a slideshow of your discoveries to be presented in class. Include the picture of the grammar violation and the rule it violatesfrom the Grammar Rules PDF. 12 errors = 60%, 14 errors = 70%, 16=80%, 18=90% and 20 errors= 100%. Good Luck and have fun!

Article Analysis

    • Date and Label your entries (1 January 2011: Oprah Launches OWN T.V. Network)
    • Analyze the article in two or more well organized paragraphs (7-12 sentences each). 200 WORDS TOTAL!!!
    • DO NOT use personal pronouns in your analysis! Always use an objective voice!
    • Write or comment about ANY of the following:
      • Identify and discuss focus as political, social, cultural, or a combination of several of these. Give examples that support your view that the writing falls into this category(ies).
      • Identify the rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos as used in the columns. Which appeal does the columnist tend to use most often? Why? Which issues warrant the use of particular appeals?
      • Identify effective rhetorical strategies (parallelism, rhetorical question, etc.) used in the column.
      • Describe the overall tone of the column. Why do you think this columnist uses this tone?
      • Does the writer use any faulty analogies? (Chapter 17)
    • Starting points for each analysis are based on the following...
      • 200 words = 10 points
      • 180 words = 8 points
      • 160 words = 6 points
      • 140 words = 4 points
      • 120 words = 2 points